Beloved by Toni Morrison

         Toni Morrison  died at the age of 88 years on August 5,2019. She was the first African –American  woman to  win the Nobel Prize in Literature,.” In her  memory , I decided to read  her book  “Beloved”  (1987)   which  had won the Pulitzer  Prize  in 1988. I had read this novel in  2005  but  had forgotten  it almost completely in 14 years . It is a book of the systematic torture that ex-slaves had to deal with after the  Emancipation Proclamation .

      Beloved is a multi-layered story  about the life of an  ex-slave Sethe  and others   in the USA  in  post civil war period (1865-75). Sethe killed her two year old daughter  to protect her from slave traders.

               Earlier ,Sethe had lived with her husband  Halle  and other slaves in a place called  Sweet Home . They escape from  Sweet Home  and get separated . After great difficulty , Sethe reaches (with her younger daughter)   her mother-in-law’s home in Cincinnati. Her two sons and her elder daughter also manage to reach there. The owner of Sweet Home  (School Teacher )  comes after Sethe  following her escape but is unsuccessful to recapture her and her  children. But she kills her infant  daughter to protect her from suffering the same abuses   she had as a slave. After this killing, her mother in law   takes to her death bed and dies. Her two sons  flee  because they feel  the  house is haunted . She stays with her  younger daughter Denver.  Later, she is joined by  an ex –slave Paul D who was earlier with her at Sweet Home.

                  Beloved is a young woman  who appears near Sethe’s house. She wants to stay with Sethe and Denver, and they take her in . They believe that Beloved is  the  daughter whom Sethe had killed. The haunting of house stops  after Beloved joins them. But slowly , Beloved  completely  makes Sethe  dependent on her. Denver reaches out to black community   to help , and they  arrive to exorcise  Beloved,  who finally disappears.

             Beloved  reflects forcefully a concern for the poor and the powerless, justice for ex-slaves   and a  need for  a free society. It  depicts  faithfully how pitiable the life of slaves was. The slaves could not keep a family with security because either of the spouses and children could be sold by the slave-owners. The book shows clearly how freedom and dignity  are essential for every human-being.

    Beloved is   a  short  book  ( about 280 pages)which  needs more than one reading  for  good understanding .In my views , it should be read  once every few years  to remind ourselves  of the need to   reaffirm  equality , dignity and  freedom from exploitation  of all human beings.